Good morning all. I have decided to run this note again, as it might save
time, and help us avoid some notes that can be answered quickly and simply.
Please PRINT and SAVE on hard paper copy, or in your files.

Remember. All commands for search go to [log in to unmask], the
*computer* address.

 By the way, last night, I was looking at a note (about Lactnet)  that I
wrote a few years back, and it said that there "were now 80 subscribers!) .
Yowee.  I remember having Jack visit here, in Vermont, and he said "I am
*not* connected to the internet!!!!" as I mentioned Lactnet to him .  JACK!
You're hooked!!! Glad you got connecrted finally! : )

 This is a clarification of how to do SEARCH functions on Lactnet..it is
very useful to have this information at your finger tips, and to try it out.
Many times, a topic has been discussed, and you can benefit from finding
past posts on the topic you are interested in.  Lactnet now has almost 3
years of archives (MARCH is our  THIRD birthday, folks! : ), and as I said,
we are now up to 1630+ subscribers  )

For info's sake, there are a few different ways to do a search for subject
matter or sender on Lactnet material.  We have 3 years of Lactnet posts
available to you. The first way is to do the searches through the
[log in to unmask] address.  The second way is accessing the
archives from our archive web site at LACTNET Archives
http://library.ummed.edu/lsv/archives/lactnet.html.  The following
instructions apply to the first method, searching via the listserv.

For instance, if you are interested in finding all the notes that have
Goat's Milk  in the text  you can send an email message to
[log in to unmask]  that says

SEARCH goat  in LACTNET


If you are interested in finding all the notes referring to goat's milk in
Lactnet that have been posted since the beginning of Lactnet, you can send
the following to the [log in to unmask] address:

search goat in lactnet since March 1995

If you are interested in finding several different words in Lactnet posts,
such as the following, it might seem that the right way to do it is to do
several *different* searches, in separate notes to listserv, like....

 search epilepsy in lactnet

 search tegretol in lactnet

 search carbamazepine in lactnet

 search phenobarbital in lactnet

to the  [log in to unmask] address.  However, this is not an
effective way to utilize the search function, as it taxes the system, and is
ineffective.

We are glad that you all are using the search functions, and here are a few
hints....and suggestions on how best to do SEARCHes on Lactnet.

You can put several commands into a single message, and should do so
when you can (because it's easier for both you and the machine).  Just
put each command onto its own line.  Second, it will be much easier for
you to make sense of the output if you put everything you want from
LACTNET into a single command:

SEARCH EPILEPSY OR TEGRETOL OR CARBAMAZEPINE OR PHENOBARBITAL OR PROZAC  IN
LACTNET

... like that.  Or you can do things like this, too:

SEARCH EPILEPSY AND (TEGRETOL OR CARBAMAZEPINE OR PHENOBARBITAL) IN LACTNET

Rather than having to combine the lists of results that LISTSERV gives
you to from those individual searches, let it do the work for you.


If you were interested in searching for all the posts that I have made, for
instance, on Lactnet, you could do a

SEARCH * in Lactnet where sender contains Bruce
to the [log in to unmask] address.

If you wanted to see all the posts I've made since Jan 1996, for instance,
you could do a

SEARCH * in Lactnet where sender contains Bruce  since Jan 1996

to [log in to unmask]

If you are searching for several words that are together,

such as

Breastmilk storage container

and you want to know what has been said since  March 1995, on Lactnet, you
should first know that the Listserv automatically assumes  "NEAR" between
all  the  words, so  they not only have to be in the same article but also
within a few words of each other. In addition, unless you  *have* to search
the entire set of archives, you  should always limit the search  with a date
specifier like this:  For instance, say the subject of the search is
breastmilk storage containers.....The search command would be :

        search breastmilk storage containers in lactnet since March 1995

It is important  to specify  the search.  Many articles talking about
breast milk would separate  the two words,  and that  some articles  talking
about containers might only say "container", etc.  Specifying a search that
gets all or most of what you want with a minimum of what you don't is as
much of an art as a science.

For information on searching, write to [log in to unmask]  with the
command

                 INFO DATABASE.

When you use the SEARCH function, the computer will send you back a "menu"
of posts, each having a 4 digit number (####).  You can then order the posts
you want with the  command

GETPOST Lactnet #### #### #### ####

to [log in to unmask]

Last but not least, the search function is available at the WEB SITE
LACTNET Archives http://library.ummed.edu/lsv/archives/lactnet.html

Kathleen

Hope this clarifies the SEARCH function.

Kathleen

Kathleen B. Bruce, BSN, IBCLC co-owner Lactnet,TLC, Indep. Consultant
http://together.net/~kbruce/kbbhome.html
LACTNET Archives http://library.ummed.edu/lsv/archives/lactnet.html
LACTNET WWW http://www.telcomplus.net/~kga/lactation.html